UNFPA: Better Opportunities for Women Drive Declining Fertility Rates

We are now in a very different world for women and girls

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative office in Indonesia, Hassan Mohtashami, has said that better opportunities for women are among the key factors behind the decline in global fertility rates.

Hassan presented UNFPA data showing that women today have fewer children compared to a century ago, with nearly two-thirds of countries worldwide now experiencing declining fertility.

“Today, where are the teenagers? They are certainly in school studying, as they should be. And where are young women in their twenties? They are at university, or building careers, and charting the course of their lives. We are now in a very different world for women and girls,” he said in Jakarta on Monday.

Urban systems that demand residents work or remain productive every day, he noted, are also contributing to the fertility decline, as people now have less time to interact with their families at home.

According to him, parents no longer have much time to have children. Furthermore, another critical factor is the financial cost of raising children, which has become considerably more expensive.

“The labour market is also different. Fertility is a socio-economic construct. People make decisions about the number of children based on social and economic factors. This is a complex issue, with a great many factors driving the decline in fertility,” he said.